NJ teacher admits he collected disability but taught elsewhere

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- A former New Jersey schoolteacher has admitted stealing nearly $249,000 by fraudulently collecting a disability pension while he was teaching in other states.

State Acting Attorney General John Hoffman says Front Royal, Virginia, resident John Brishcar pleaded guilty Tuesday to theft by deception.

(ThinkStock)

Brishcar had been a middle school science teacher in the Piscataway school district before taking a disability retirement in September 2003, claiming he could no longer teach due to "prolonged stress and chronic back pain." But Hoffman says Brishcar went on to work as a substitute teacher in West Virginia and later became a full-time teacher in Virginia, where he's now suspended.

Brishcar faces a three-year state prison term when he's sentenced in April. He'll have to pay $248,960 in restitution.